This does not mean the zoo will close, but rather that it has lost — at least temporarily — a public stamp of approval from a group of experts. The zoo will be ineligible to reapply for accreditation until March 1, 2013.

Mayor Rob Ford blamed city council’s “policy on the fly” after the Toronto Zoo lost a prestigious international accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The zoo’s loss of the AZA’s public stamp of approval, announced Wednesday, comes months after city council voted to overrule the Toronto Zoo board in opting to send three ageing elephants to a California sanctuary instead of an accredited zoo.

The association’s executive director, Kristin Vehrs, said the decision was based on “the action taken by the city council regarding the management of animals in the zoo’s collection,” citing a violation of the AZA’s governing authority standards.

“AZA looks forward to the time when the Toronto Zoo applies and qualifies for accreditation,” Ms. Vehrs stated in a recent letter to Toronto Zoo CEO John Tracogna, noting the facility would be eligible to reapply next March. “Please be assured that the board of directors and the accreditation commission fully support your efforts to bring the Toronto Zoo into compliance with AZA accreditation standards.”

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The standards in question include requirements that the zoo’s governing authority “recognize and support the institution’s goals” and that decisions about animals be made by trained professionals.

An AZA spokesman confirmed the elephant controversy was the primary reason for the zoo’s loss of accreditation, prompting the mayor to direct his wrath at council.

“You just can’t do policy on the fly. That’s what happened with the zoo,” Mr. Ford said. “We should have left it in the staff’s hands. Council sometimes thinks it knows better and this is a perfect example of when they don’t.”

The mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, was among the 31 councillors who voted last year to transfer elephants Toka, Thika and Iringa to a California sanctuary, overruling a previous decision by the zoo’s board of directors. The mayor was absent for the vote, which came after the Toronto Zoo determined it could no longer afford to properly care for the elephants.

Mr. Tracogna said he was “disappointed” by the zoo’s loss of status, but pointed out it would have a negligible impact on the facility’s daily operations and would not affect its upcoming loan of two giant pandas from China.

“There should be minimal impact to our operations and managing our wildlife collection, and we continue to operate at the highest possible standards for customer service and wildlife care,” Mr. Tracogna said.

In the meantime, the zoo has struck a committee to examine possible changes to its governance model, including the concept of a public-private partnership. Everything is on the table, Mr. Tracogna said.

“The Toronto Zoo should embrace that and look for ways to change,” he said. “Just because we’ve been the same way for the last 30 years doesn’t mean that we should remain the same for the next 30 years.”

If the zoo fails to earn accreditation again in 2013, it risks losing a small number of animals on loan from other accredited facilities. Until this month, the Toronto Zoo had been accredited by the AZA since 1977 — one of just a handful of facilities in Canada to hold the distinction.

Councillor Michelle Berardinetti, who successfully introduced the council motion to transfer the elephants to California, did not appear concerned, bidding the association good riddance.

“It’s more bully behaviour from an American association that feels that it has more rights and more powers, and more say over our elephants than the citizens of Toronto,” she said. “Toronto has its own standards that I think are better than what CAZA [Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums] and AZA represent… This is getting rid of the bully.”

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